LITTLE SNIPPETS

The idea of this blog is for like minded people to be able to share the pleasures of pipe smoking, and to that end we will be publishing little snippets of information for your interest.  Snippets will cover all sorts of subjects and all are welcome.  The first snippet is about a popular material for making pipes, Meerschaum.

MEERSCHAUM

So what is meerschaum?  Meerschaum is a mineral that is found all over the world, but mainly in the Black Sea and Africa.  It is very light and the fact that it can float on water gave it it’s name – Sea Foam (German meer = sea and schaum =foam)  It has long been a favourite material for pipe making as its soft construction made it very easy to work, leading to some fantastically beautiful carved pipes.  Meerschaum starts life pure white and if not stained will stay that way until it is smoked.  When smoked the pipe takes on the colour of the nicotine in the tobacco and over the years goes from a pale honey colour to a beautiful dark chestnut brown.  My oldest Meerschaum is over thirty years old and is now starting to colour nicely.  Pipe smoking is something that cannot be hurried.  There are two main types of meerschaum used for pipe making.  One is block meerschaum and this is mined straight out of the ground and then worked, and the other is composite.  Composite is a much cheaper version and consists of small chips of block meerschaum mixed with an adhesive and then moulded.  You can nearly always tell this type as it has a hard plastic feel.  A lot of pipes coming out of Turkey today use this material.  Carved meerschaum is nearly always block as trying to carve the composite would probably lead to the material separating.

WARNING!!!!! DO NOT ATTEMPT TO LIGHT A MEERSCHAUM WITH THE TURBO JET STYLE OF LIGHTER.  THE VERY HIGH TEMPERATURES GENERATED CAN CRACK THE PIPE.